Thursday, February 17th 2011:
After seeing an excellent performance of American Idiot on Broadway yesterday night with none other than Billie Joe Armstrong as St. Jimmy,
I just had to go back and get some autographs - and it was quite an ideal night to do so...warm temps made waiting for almost 2 hours a piece of cake. There were ten people already waiting before I got there around 8:20pm, which was even before the barricades came out (they came out around 9pm).
After the performance last night, Brian and I had no idea about the hubbub going on outside, taking our time inside before exiting. With Billie Joe performing just a few shows, I knew this would be a rare opportunity to catch him. So after he speeds off in his limo, I decided the best thing to do was to come back the next night...
I don't know what happened between last night and this night for the crowd control was pretty much non-existent as you can see below...
Last night, it looked like the only people waiting were behind the barricades, but tonight, the police and theatre security could only disperse the people on the left side of the limo, while people stood both at the front and rear of the limo. It was kinda insane...
Stark Sands - Tunny
Omar Lopez-Cepero - Swing
When Billie Joe finally emerged tonight, it was controlled chaos, as the barricades served their purpose preventing the surge of people from trampling the poor guy...
I had every intention of videotaping him, but I thought that he would follow suit like the last two performers. Instead, as he was standing right in front of me facing away at the opposite crowd, he did a 180 and looked at me. Totally not prepared, I just looked at him, my playbill not held out, my camera not on video, and he just walked over to my left to continuing signing. I felt so caught off guard and like an "idiot", but he did eventually sign my playbill, and I got my video...
After lingering for a bit, putting my stuff away and shooting the signage from across the street, I saw the two women standing next to me take pictures with a performer and recognized one of the leads (Michael Esper - Will, see below) walking quickly down the street. I caught up with both of them at the intersection and tried to discreetly ask for their signatures, of which they oblidged. This, by the way, ends up attracting attention, as other fans saw what just happened, and they ask if they could borrow my red marker.
When all was said and done, I walked away with five sigs:
Top: Michael Esper - Will (more like a scribble), Ben Thompson - Ensemble
Bottom: Billy Joe Armstrong - St. Jimmy, Stark Sands - Tunny, Omar Lopez-Cepero - Swing
oh, and this is from the encore...a big no-no inside, but I couldn't help myself. missed Billie Joe's solo in the beginning:
So, overall an eventful two nights, although I must admit that it is really quite silly...can't help but do these crazy things, just a part of who I am
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